The announcements, which were largely expected, aim to keep up the company's commercial momentum in the face of mounting challenges.

The company could use a lift. Sales of its flagship iPhone are levelling off after surging last year to record levels that made Apple the world's biggest company by stock market value. Many are wondering if Cook can come up with another big hit.

And on Tuesday, Apple lawyers will square off with authorities in federal court over the FBI's demand for help unlocking a San Bernardino killer's encrypted iPhone. The tech giant insists the government's plan would compromise security for all iPhone users.

At its media conference in Cupertino, San Francisco, Apple unveiled the iPhone SE, its cheapest iPhone model to date. The starting price for the iPhone SE is Rs. 39,000, Apple said. It will be available for purchase in India starting early April.

Editor's Note: An earlier version of the article mentioned the India price of the iPhone SE as Rs. 30,000. This was a price communicated in an official Apple release, but the company later issued an updated release with the Rs. 39,000 price tag.

The iPhone SE sports a 4-inch display and comes in two storage variants: 16GB and 64GB. It has much the same innards as the iPhone 6s, which Apple launched last year. Apple also unveiled new accessories such as leather cases in Black and Midnight Blue, which will be available at Rs. 2,900. The Lightning Docks will be available at Rs. 3,700.

The new Apple smartphone is meant to address both the demand for a smaller screen iPhone, as well as the demand for a cheap iPhone. As we mentioned earlier, the Apple iPhone SE features innards similar to the iPhone 6s, but comes with a design and form factor that's reminiscent of the iPhone 5s - the company's last 4-inch iPhone.

Looking nearly identical to the iPhone 5s, the iPhone SE comes with the colour variants introduced with the iPhone 6s - including Rose Gold. It also features more rounded edges on the top and bottom panels, more like the iPhone 6 than the iPhone 5s.

For specifications, the iPhone SE features the iPhone 6s' Apple A9 SoC and M9 motion coprocessor, 12-megapixel iSight (rear) camera with 4K video support, Bluetooth 4.2, improved Wi-Fi and LTE, new microphones, and Apple Pay support with a Touch ID GO TO OFFICIAL WEBSITE